We got our first glimpse of the new trailer for Disney’s John Carter on Good Morning America several hours ago, but as promised, we now have a much better version to show you. And by “better,” I don’t just mean higher-quality, but also longer, somewhat more interesting, and a little more promising. Check it out after the jump.

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One of the biggest question marks on the 2012 tentpole schedule is Disney’s John Carter, formerly John Carter of Mars. Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) directs the live-action film that adapts APrincess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Now that we’re able to see some footage, it appears that he has done so with a sense of grand, old-school fantasy/sci-fi epics. I had no idea what to expect out of this, and so far, I’m impressed.

In June, I visited the editing room of John Carter, the big screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic sci-fi novel A Princess of Mars (you can watch my video blog here). At the event, director Andrew Stanton and producer Jim Morris gave a presentation explaining how they came to be involved with the project, and described the unique process they took to “shoot” the adaptation. After the jump you will find a complete transcript of the presentation and question and answer session, along with some concept art from the film and photos from the event.

On June 20th, I flew to San Francisco to visit Barsoom Studios, in an office building minutes sown the road from Pixar Animation Studios, to see the first footage fromJohn Carter, a big screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic sci-fi novel A Princess of Mars.

In a screening room, Finding Nemo/Wall-E director Andrew Stanton gave us a powerpoint presentation explaining why and how he became involved in the project, and the unique methods they used to “shoot” the film (you can read a transcript of Andrew’s complete presentation and Q&A elsewhere on /Film). We screened a couple scenes from the movie, and the teaser trailer which will be attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (expect to see it online on Thursday, July 14th).

After the jump you can read my brief thoughts, followed by a video blog I recorded with Frosty from Collider (who admits he knows nothing about the source material) and Eric Vespe (better known as Quint from Ain’t It Cool, who knows way way way more than I will ever know about the source material). So we have a good spread of opinions based on a wide range of expectations and knowledge of the source material.

Most of us stop thinking about work as we enter the holiday season, but Hollywood actors and actresses are lining up their jobs for the new year. There is a whole bunch of casting news that’s recently been announced, much of it in the romantic comedy genre, and here’s the rundown.

Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks and G4’s Olivia Munn will join Kelsey Grammer and Pierce Brosnan in the comedy I Don’t Know How She Does It, which stars Sarah Jessica Parker as a woman juggling her work on Wall Street with a family life. Parker herself is also joining the huge ensemble for Garry Marshall’s romantic comedy New Year’s Eve while Halle Berry is in negotiations for a role too. 30 Rock award winner Alec Baldwin is the latest actor circling a spot in the Broadway adaptation Rock of Ages. Everyone’s favorite Viper pilot, Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff will star in Sexy Evil Genius, which is about a girl who brings all her exes to the same bar. Rosario Dawson and Lynn Collins are now part of the high school reunion film Ten Year with Chris Pine and Channing Tatum and Ed Burns joins Megan Fox and Jon Hamm in Jennifer Westfeldt’s romantic comedy Friends With Kids.

A lot to digest, we know. There’s so much more info after the jump that you’d be crazy not to click. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

Willem Dafoe is the latest actor to join Andew Stanton’s big screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ John Carter of Mars. Dafoe will play the role of Tars Tarkas, a brutal and mirthless green Martian warrior, who possesses the ability to feel love and empathy, an unusual characteristic among his savage race. The newly arrived Earth man John Carter develops an alliance with Tarkas after learning his secret. The film is expected to be the first of a possible trilogy, and considering Tarkas fights alongside Carter through the entire series of books, Dafoe likely signed on or has options for sequels.

Yesterday we learned that Andrew Stanton‘s live-action debut John Cartner of Mars was gearing up for a November shoot in Utah, and that Tom Cruise was circling, but is no longer involved with the project. It stands to reason that in the coming weeks we’ll begin to hear casting announcements.